CII Institute of Logistics, a CII Centre of Excellence (CoE) in the logistics and supply chain management domain, said its multi-pronged approach has helped transform the logistics sector, and that it would be working to enable the sector to add value to manufacturing, domestic trade and exports.

The Institute, which was started in 2004, with the objective of bringing more players into the organised segment, has succeeded in bringing service providers and users of logistics services on one platform to gain more insights into the emerging trends and adopt global best practices.

While there is a need for the highly-fragmented Indian logistics market to get more organised, there is also a need to reduce logistics cost to 10 per cent by 2022 from about 14 per cent now.

Only 10-15 per cent of the $215-billion Indian logistics market is owned by organised players. Also, the level of inefficiency in logistics activities has been very high across all modes. This is where outsourcing is seen helping players realise significant cost reductions and other benefits.

“Outsourcing has to increase; it will help (the industry) utilise assets and infrastructure better in India,” R Dinesh, Chairman, CII Institute of Logistics Advisory Council told BusinessLine .

CII Institute of Logistics has been providing its services in four key areas ― education and training, advisory services, research and publication and events.

Under education and training, more than 12,000 people from the industry have gained from various education programmes, which have been developed in collaboration with sector-specific councils, universities and colleges. Also, to offer industry-ready professionals, a CII School of Logistics was established in 2016.

“With this, we have certified many thousands of professionals in supply chain. Skilling is also done across sub-sectors of the industry,” he said.

Through multiple training programmes, both short-term and long-term, the institute is certifying 3,000-4,000 people ― from mangers to vice presidents ― every year.

Under its advisory service, the institute has been rating warehouses using an in-house methodology named WAREX, which looks at infrastructure, processes, and people. The second area of focus is the SCM Maturity Model, which rates companies on their level of maturity.

To encourage people to upgrade themselves, the institute has been presenting SCALE awards. In the past six years, 1,000 companies contested for these awards. Of these, 400 were recognised/rewarded.

At the sectoral level, CII Institute of Logistics has been working on improving the image of the industry, while implementing logistics standards.

“While people are aware of standards, there is no single code or standard in India (in logistics). CII is playing a proactive role and suggesting standards for the sector. This is expected to be announced in the upcoming logistics policy,” said Dinesh, adding that the institute’s contribution was significant in getting infrastructure status for the warehousing sector.

He also explained that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed with the Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS), Japan, to gain technical knowledge from them.

“Japan is very strong in standards regarding logistics, and there is a culture of constant improvement in that country. We have gained a lot in manufacturing through Japanese quality movements. We expect similar benefits in logistics as well,” he added.

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